Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

In this article we will cover How to fly Porterville fast. This particular style of flying can be used on any Thermic ridge with cross wind conditions.

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The red arrows indicate the typical South Westerly airflow. The red circle on the ridge is Dasklip take off.

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The yellow circles are where you would find the “House” thermals. The red arrow indicates the SW wind blowing cross up the ridge. The red circle is Dasklip take off.

It is best to time the thermic cycles well on take off. Once airborne the first obvious house thermal is slightly to your left from take off. I would make a few turns in this climb but it is best not to waste time by taking the thermal to the top when you’ve got a rich thermal ridge of 50km to your right.

Take this thermal to about 100 meters above take off and then head straight down the ridge towards “razorback ridge” or “rescue ridge”

It is very important when you are thermalling close to the ridge to turn right when heading North and turn left when heading South. You want your downwind leg of your turn in the thermal to be away from the ridge and your slower into wind leg closer to the ridge.

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The image above shows the drift of the Thermals, the stronger thermal will always be upwind from the weaker one that you will find on the ridge. This does not mean that you need to go search upwind for the stronger thermals. You will only do this if your intentions are to go into the flats or if you want to go over the back.

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The South Westerly wind pushes the thermals onto the ridge, the wind forces the thermals to bounce against the ridge and drift in a 45′ angle away from the ridge. The yellow circle shows how the wind forces the thermals to bounce off the ridge.

The blue arrows indicate the best flying line for you to follow.

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This image shows what the thermal drift will look like from the the top. The red arrow indicates the SW wind. The blue lines clearly show the best line to follow.

1) Fly straight from take off toward your next thermal or trigger point.

2) Once you hit the thermal, instead of turning in the thermal, just slow down by applying 1/4 brake.

3) Turn 45′ away from the ridge and continue flying cross downwind.

4) Listen to your vario, try to maximise the time spent in the lifting air.

5) The moment you are no longer flying in lift, speed up and turn 45′ back towards the ridge.

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The image above shows a zig-zag flying line that you will follow. The yellow circles indicate thermals or areas of lift.

The idea behind this strategy is to move as fast as possible down the ridge by avoiding areas of sink. There is absolutely no reason at all for you to climb to the top of the thermal and then try head down the ridge.

The blue area shows the areas of sink in between the thermals, if you decide to take the thermal to the top you will spend more time in the sinkying air when going on glide in search of your next thermal.

Remember only take the Thermal to the top if your intentions are to leave the ridge.

Try to apply this tactic and you will find yourself flying a lot faster and stretching your XC flights a lot further!

Stephan is the owner of Fly Cape Town Paragliding. He is an avid tandem, competition and aerobatics paragliding pilot He loves to share the joy of paragliding flight with anyone who is keen...He is also a qualified paragliding instructor and a paragliding endurance athlete.

This time we head to Porterville, one of my favorite places to paraglide in the Western Cape region.

The best weather forecast would be a post-frontal South Westerly going South.

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We will be taking off from the Dasklip take off site. I would immediately hit a right hand turn and work my way up “rescue ridge”

I would not even bother to take the thermals to the top as I find that it is a complete waste of time. Once you are about 100 meters above take off then run down the ridge. I have explained the theory behind this in one of my previous articles on how to fly Porterville faster, go check this out.

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The image above displays the first 30-40km ridge run down to Piekenierskloof pass, again no need to climb just run!

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My first stop to take the thermal to the top would at the farm house at the bottom of the Piekenierskloof pass. Many people would argue that it would be wiser to take the house thermal at Bumpy peak, I tend to disagree as the back valley only starts working later and by running down the ridge you are giving the back valley some time to heat up and start working.

If the farmhouse thermal is good I would take this one to the top and head for Citrusdal, please remember that you need at least 500 meters above the mountain to go over the back.

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The image above displays the locations of the house thermals around the pass area, generally speaking all of them should get you high enough to go over the back.

If nothing is working, just hang around. Sometimes the thermals only release every 20-30 min. Use the wind component and ridge soar until you find the strong thermal. Your patience will be rewarded.

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Once you are high enough you can go straight over the back towards Citrusdal.

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You will see a small ridge right behind Citrusdal with a tower on it. Aim straight for this tower. This is where you will find your next thermal.

Now it is decision time again, you can either push forward towards the river on the left, go straight down the middle of the valley in the flats or head for the big mountains on the right. The safest bet is straight down the middle of the valley. The wind can often be very strong on the big mountains on the right and if the seabreeze (which is another topic for discussion) comes through you will find yourself in a nasty situation. Please check the strength of the wind regularly before going into areas where you can be pinned.

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The next step is to get up at Constriction. The end of the valley often works really well, if the wind is more southerly both sides will work really well. The house thermal is located just North of the Constriction landing field. If it is a good day and you can climb to 2000 meters you can easily glide to Clanwilliam from here.

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If you do not get very high at the Constriction, dont worry! There are plenty of thermal markers along the way. The best line is often all along the riverbed.

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Now all that is left for you to do is to glide into goal. There are plenty landing areas around the dam, but to avoid long walkouts try to land as close to Town as possible. The rugby goal field is probably your best option.